Public Hospitals are not mandated to source medicines without Central Medical Stores Trust (CMST).
Had it been they were mandated, medicine shortages could have been at least on minimal level.
The reliance on CMST to procure medicines and other medical equipment has made the service providing standards to go down the normal line.
CMST is just a name, they don’t keep medicines that are essential to the Malawi Nation.
Contributing factors that have lowered the service delivery are that, in 2013, the Central Medical Stores awarded a tender to a company called SADM Pharmaceuticals Limited to supply medicines for $12,577,605 (at today’s exchange rate is about K9.4 billion).
After some time, the Central Medical Stores paid SADM Pharmaceuticals $12,236,790 (i.e. K9.2 billion).
Due to reasons that are unclear, Central Medical Stores delayed to pay $340,815 (more than K200 million), and took years to do so, but settled the whole amount in February this year.
In reaction SADM Pharmaceuticals went to court and sued for the interest amounting to $4,366,848 (i.e. K3.3 billion!) This is the interest on the K200 million.
The K3.3 billion that should have been used to procure medicine for the poor.
And the courts granted the interest, first by Justice Kenani Manda of the High Court in a ruling dated 18 June 2020, and upheld by Justice Lovemore Chikopa of the Supreme Court, dated 7 August 2020.
This caused a lot of unanswered questions such as;
Did the lawyers of the Central Medical Stores put up a strong fight?
Why did the Central Medical Stores delay to pay the K200 million?
Surpringly the Central Medical Stores did not even challenge the interest mentioned above.
As if that is not enough, reports are saying that Central Medical Stores has just awarded the same company another contract of $1 million.
And stories like these, you will hardly see them anywhere as they seem to be of less importance. But there must be a follow up.
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